Partners, in case you missed the announcement heard around the world on September 18, 2013, this should get you up to speed- Apple officially launched iOS7, which includes several features that allow enterprises to secure and manage iOS devices. Simultaneously, Citrix has released an update to XenMobile 8.5 to provide backward compatibility for iOS7. In addition, XenMobile enhances iOS7 mobile device and app management capabilities.

Citrix XenMobile 8.5 provides backward compatibility for the new iOS7 release and enhances its mobile device and app management capabilities. Here are just a few examples:

First, most enterprise organizations have heterogeneous environments and need to support more operating systems than just iOS. Without XenMobile, they would have to use a different mobile device and app management product for each operating system, which would increase management complexity and cost. In addition, most organizations require stronger security. XenMobile extends iOS7 policies with more than 60 additional policies. For example, at the network layer, XenMobile can block access from unsecured public WiFi networks or require the use of a specific WiFi SSID. At the data layer, XenMobile can control the ability to copy/paste, print or externally sync contents from secure managed apps. At the device level, specific apps can be blocked or allowed access to device hardware resources such as the camera or Bluetooth. Also, enterprise employees typically need to use more than just mobile apps, including desktop, web and SaaS apps. iOS7 can only manage iOS native mobile apps.

XenMobile also helps companies that are only interested in managing applications–not devices. For example, privacy laws in many European countries and the need to manage contractors or temp workers may necessitate managing apps without an MDM solution. XenMobile provides this flexibility.